Caregivers acknowledge and respond to many sounds and lights generated by alarms in the patient room each day. These alarms are created by telemetry, monitors, ventilators, infusion pumps, fall alerts and practically anything else.
Although alarms are crucial to administering necessary patient care, throughout the day the increasing number of audible & visual alarms can become overwhelming. Leading to Alarm Fatigue for clinicians and patients. Understanding this obstacle in delivering superior patient care, NiQ Health has now has a tightly integrated solution: The CarePlus™ Remote Alert Monitor.
As part of our ‘innovation at the edge’ strategy, we have formed a strategic partnership with Dalcon Communications of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, as a best of breed solutions provider for SIP addressable communications from the clinician to the patient room whilst adding the value of the Remote Alert Monitor providing a tightly integrated, fully qualified and supported extension to CarePlus™ .
When the caregiver responds to the alarm in the patient room, the caregiver will press the cancel button on the RAM. This automatically sends a message back to the CCM, recording the time of response and then removes the notification from the list of active notifications wherever posted in the care area, or in the facility.
Audio is provided from the staff mobile device to the microphone and speaker within the RAM box. This capability is provided as a wireless SIP addressable powered speaker and microphone or as a POE wired SIP addressable device connected to the Ethernet.
1. The on-call and allocated nurse is notified via the nurse allocation and device allocation as specified within the Nurse call system. The nurse receives the notice as the active alarm is generated in text on the device.
2. A call back extension is provided to the mobile device by the CarePlus™ nurse call system and the nurse can now initiate a call back or push other keys for specific functions and workflow , such as;
- 1. Force alarm to escalate
- 2. Acknowledge alarm
- 3. Delete the current message
- 4. Initiate “call back”
- 5. Cancel the alarm
- 6. View previous message
- 7. View next message
- > View next page of message
- < View previous page of message
- ? Display next message
- ? Initiate “call back”
3. When the nurse pushes the green call button a high quality SIP full duplex call is initiated implementing 21st century technologies such as QOS ensuring clear clinician – patient communication.
Better Alarm Management/Documentation
The combination of CarePlus™ and the Remote Alarm Monitor allows alarms generated by patient care devices in the patient room to be communicated automatically to the appropriate caregivers both at the nurses stations and on allocated wireless phones or pagers carried by the nurse. This real-time information about patient conditions and environment is exactly what nurses need to provide their best patient care.
The CarePlus™ message-based nurse call system simplifies active management of all alarms, whether delivered through the RAM or other integrations. At any time, active notifications can be displayed on the monitor screen of any computer on the hospital network, including at the nurse station.
In addition, CarePlus™ records the alarm cancel time when the caregiver has responded, for reporting care metrics in both real-time and for historical analysis.
“Never Event” / Risk Prevention
With an increasing focus on “Never Events” like fall prevention and pressure sore prevention and associated concern of injury cost reimbursement, the CarePlus™ Remote Alert Monitor alerts caregivers directly when a patient identified as a fall risk leaves the bed or chair. The quick action enabled by this direct communication can help prevent patient falls and injury.
The CarePlus™ Remote Alert Monitor also includes a Pressure Ulcer Management System designed to help caregivers prevent and treat pressure ulcer never events.
